* = This book is part of a series. See others by this author.
Appelt, Kathi. The Underneath. (J Ap)
An old hound that has been chained up at his hateful owner's run-down shack, and two kittens born underneath the house, endure separation, danger, and many other tribulations in their quest to be reunited and free.
Collins, Suzanne. Gregor the Overlander.* (J Co)
When eleven-year-old Gregor and his two-year-old sister are pulled into a strange underground world, they trigger an epic battle involving men, bats, rats, cockroaches, and spiders while on a quest foretold by ancient prophecy. (The first book in the Underland Chronicles.)
Cummings, Priscilla. Red Kayak. (J Cu)
Living near the water on Maryland's Eastern Shore, thirteen-year-old Brady and his best friends J.T. and Digger become entangled in a tragedy which tests their friendship and their ideas about right and wrong.
Curtis, Christopher Paul. Elijah of Buxton. (J Curtis)
In 1859, eleven-year-old Elijah Freeman, the first free-born child in Buxton, Canada, which is a haven for slaves fleeing the American South, uses his wits and skills to try to bring to justice the lying preacher who has stolen money that was to be used to buy a family's freedom.
Dowell, Frances O'Roark. Chicken Boy. (J Do)
Since the death of his mother, Tobin's family life and school life have been in disarray, but after he starts raising chickens with his seventh-grade classmate, Henry, everything starts to fall into place.
Farmer, Nancy. Sea of Trolls. (J Fa)
After Jack becomes apprenticed to a Druid bard, he and his little sister Lucy are captured by Viking Berserkers and taken to the home of King Ivar the Boneless and his half-troll queen, leading Jack to undertake a vital quest to Jotunheim, home of the trolls.
Funke, Cornelia. Inkheart.* (J Fu)
Twelve-year-old Meggie learns that her father, who repairs and binds books for a living, can read fictional characters to life when one of those characters abducts them and tries to force him into service. The magic continues in Inkspell.
Gaiman, Neil. The Graveyard Book. (J Ga)
After the grisly murder of his entire family, a toddler wanders into a graveyard where the ghosts and other supernatural residents agree to raise him as one of their own.
George, Jean Craighead. My Side of the Mountain.* (J Ge)
Sam Gribley learns to survive and depend on nature when he leaves home for the challenge of wilderness living.
Goodall, Jane. The Chimpanzees I Love: Saving Their World and Ours. (J 599.885 Go)
An intense, personal story by a pioneer in scientific field observation. Goodall presents her long involvement with the chimpanzees of Gombe, describing the amazing discoveries she has made over 40 years.
Hiaasen, Carl. Hoot. (J Hi)
Roy, who is new to his small Florida community, becomes involved in another boy's daring and often hilarious attempt to save a colony of burrowing owls from a proposed construction site. If you like this book, you might enjoy Flush, by the same author.
Hopkinson, Deborah. Shutting Out the Sky: Life in the Tenements of New York, 1880-1924. (J 307.764 Ho)
True stories about five individuals who came to live in the Lower East Side of New York City as children or young adults from Belarus, Italy, Lithuania, and Romania.
Kadhota, Cynthia. Weedflower. (J Ka)
After twelve-year-old Sumiko and her Japanese-American family are relocated from their flower farm in southern California to an internment camp on a Mojave Indian reservation in Arizona, she helps her family and neighbors, and tries to hold on to her dream of owning a flower shop.
Korman, Gordon. No More Dead Dogs. (J Ko)
Eighth-grade football hero Wallace Wallace is sentenced to detention attending rehearsals of the school play where he becomes wrapped up in the production and begins to suggest changes that improve not only the play but his life as well.
Law, Ingrid. Savvy. (J Law)
Recounts the adventures of Mibs Beaumont, whose thirteenth birthday has revealed her "savvy"--a magical power unique to each member of her family--just as her father is injured in a terrible accident.
Martin, Ann. A Corner of the Universe. (J Ma)
The summer that Hattie turns twelve, she meets the childlike uncle she never knew and becomes friends with a girl who works at the carnival that comes to Hattie's small town.
Morgenstern, Susie. Secret Letters from 0 to 10. (J Mo)
Ten-year-old Ernest lives a boring existence in Paris with his grandmother until a lively girl named Victory enters his class at school.
Osborne, Mary Pope. One World, Many Religions: The Ways We Worship. (J291 Os)
An illustrated introduction to comparative religion, discussing Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism.
Papademetriou, Lisa. Sixth-Grade Glommers, Norks, and Me. (J Pa)
Allie Kimball learns that middle school is populated with three kinds of people: "glommers," "norks," and worst of all, "squashes" -- crushes that make you feel like your heart has been stepped on. Allie copes with the help of her soccer team and new friends.
Partridge, Elizabeth. This Land was Made for You and Me: The Life and Songs of Woody Guthrie. (J 780.92 Gut)
A biography of Woody Guthrie, a singer who wrote over 3,000 folk songs and ballads as he traveled around the United States, including the classic song, "This Land is Your Land."
Paterson, Katherine. The Master Puppeteer. (J Pa)
A thirteen-year-old boy describes eighteenth century Osaka, Japan and the world of puppeteers in which he lives.
Paulsen, Gary. Hatchet.* (J Pa)
After a plane crash, Brian spends 54 days in the wilderness, learning to survive with only the aid of a hatchet given him by his mother. Read more about Brian in The River, Brian's Winter, Brian's Return, and Brian's Hunt.
Riordan, Rick. The Lightning Thief.* (J Ri)
Twelve-year-old Percy Jackson learns he is a demigod, the son of a mortal woman and Poseidon, god of the sea. His mother sends him to a summer camp for demigods where he and his new friends set out on a quest to prevent a war between the gods. First in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series.
Ryan, Pam Munoz. Esperanza Rising. (J Ry)
Esperanza and her mother are forced to leave their life of wealth and privilege in Mexico to go work in the labor camps of Southern California, where they must adapt to the harsh circumstances facing Mexican farm workers on the eve of the Great Depression.
Sachar, Louis. Small Steps*. (J Sa)
Three years after being released from Camp Green Lake, Armpit is trying hard to keep his life on track, but when his old pal X-Ray shows up with a tempting plan to make some easy money scalping concert tickets, Armpit reluctantly goes along. (This is a companion novel to Holes, the 1999 Newbery Medal winner.)
Schmidt, Gary D. Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy. (J Sc)
In 1911, Turner Buckminster doesn't like his new home in Maine, but things improve when he meets Lizzie Bright Griffin, a girl from a poor, nearby island community founded by former slaves that the town fathers--and Turner's--want to change into a tourist spot.
Smith, Roland. The Captain's Dog: My Journey with the Lewis and Clark Tribe. (J Sm)
Captain Meriwether Lewis's dog Seaman describes his experiences as he accompanies his master on the Lewis and Clark Expedition to explore the uncharted western wilderness.
Spinelli, Jerry. Stargirl. (J Sp)
In this story about the perils of popularity, the courage of nonconformity, and the thrill of first love, an eccentric student named Stargirl changes Mica High School forever.
Stroud, Jonathan. The Amulet of Samarkand.* (J St)
In the first installment of the Bartimaeus Trilogy, Nathaniel, a magician's apprentice, summons up the djinni Bartimaeus and instructs him to steal the Amulet of Samarkand from the powerful magician Simon Lovelace.
Tolan, Stephanie. Surviving the Applewhites. (J To)
Jake, a budding juvenile delinquent, is sent for home schooling to the arty and eccentric Applewhite family's Creative Academy, where he discovers talents and interests he never knew he had.
Whelan, Gloria. Listening for Lions. (J Wh)
Left an orphan after the influenza epidemic in British East Africa in 1918, thirteen-year-old Rachel is tricked into assuming a deceased neighbor's identity to travel to England, where her only dream is to return to Africa and rebuild her parents' mission hospital.
Revised by MCPL Children's Services Librarians Summer 2009
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Updated:
November 17, 2009->
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